Solution to major issues confronting Pakistan, including lawlessness, terrorism, poverty and unemployment, was in self-reliance and getting rid of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, said speakers at a pre-budget seminar organised by the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on Sunday.
JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch chaired the seminar at the Lahore Press Club.
Farid Paracha, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Traders Wing President Muhammad Ali Mian, former Federal Board of Revenue member Sarfraz Ahmad Khan and Kisan Board Pakistan chairman Haji Muhammad Ramazan also spoke.
Baloch urged the government to retrieve around Rs400 billion of the public money lying in Swiss banks. He said foreign investment would remain a dream as long as the ruling elite continued to move their money abroad. He said Karachi was the economic hub of Pakistan and the national economy could not thrive until target killings and extortionists were dealt with. He urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to adopt concrete measures to restore peace in the city.
Baloch said India was bent upon ruining Pakistan’s industrial and agricultural growth through “water terrorism” and building dams on Pakistani rivers. He said the government must allocate funds for a major dam in the upcoming budget.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2014.